Lawyer: Jussie Smollett ‘a real victim’ of attack in Chicago

By DON BABWIN and SARA BURNETT
Associated Press

CHICAGO (AP) — Jussie Smollett’s defense attorney says he is a “real victim” of a racist and homophobic attack in Chicago in January 2019. Defense attorney Nenye Uche told jurors at the ex-“Empire” actor’s trial Monday that two brothers attacked Smollett because they didn’t like him. He also suggested a third person was involved in the attack. Prosecutor Dan Webb says Smollett staged a fake attack after a television studio didn’t take hate mail he received seriously. Webb says Smollett planned the whole thing and paid the two brothers to do it. He then reported it to Chicago police, who classified it as a hate crime and spent 3,000 hours on the investigation.